REPOST: Classic car safety: what you should know as a collector

Safety is an important aspect of collecting, driving, and restoring classic cars created in an era before modern standards of safety have taken root.  This point can't be overstated, especially if you intend to drive restored vehicles. Collector Sector discusses the matter in brief and enumerates the safety issues that classic car aficionados need to consider.

How often do you think about safety when admiring your favorite classic cars? It is easy to get caught up in how beautiful the exterior of a Duesenberg, Packard, or old Cadillac may be without even considering how dangerous they used to be in some cases.

Since most car safety advances have taken place within the last fifty years or so, safety systems in vintage and classic cars pale in comparison to those in modern cars. Some of this is attributable to a lack of technology in a given time period but remember, back in the early age of automobiles in the 1920's and 1930's, there just weren't many on the road and safety was therefore kind of an afterthought. It is pretty clear just by looking at a car from the 1920's, for example, that manufacturers were far more focused on outdoing each other in design and elegance than anything else.

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One of the first car designers to begin to pay close attention to car safety was Preston Tucker. After studying some of the car accidents that plastic surgeon Claire L. Straith began documenting in the late 1930's, Tucker began to implement several safety measures in his famous Tucker 48 vehicles. Among these features were seat belts, a roll bar that was built into the roof, a padded dash, and the famous "crash chamber" that was a padded area in front of the passenger that passengers in the front could "crawl into" in order to help protect themselves in case of a collision. Even though Tucker was a huge supporter of seat belts, they were only featured on earlier Tucker models and were eliminated from later production models because some of Tucker's staff convinced him that seat belts would actually make potential drivers feel less safe than in other cars.

They were actually right. During that time period (the late 1940's and early 1950's) many people still felt a great amount of inconvenience in the seat belt. Not only did they see the seat belt as inconvenient, they even felt as though it may actually trap them inside the vehicle and prevent them from being able to get out in the event of a crash. And to that point, it is even said that some of what caused the seemingly counter-intuitive argument that wearing seat belts was less safe than not wearing one was the crash that killed James Dean. When Dean crashed his Porsche 550 Spyder his mechanic, Rolf Weutherich, who was not wearing his seat belt, was flung violently from the vehicle but still survived.

Common Classic Car Safety Considerations

Some of the more common areas of focus when discussing classic car safety are:

Tires - Perhaps the cheapest way to improve classic and vintage car safety is to change out the old tires for modern ones. This will instantly improve braking power and road handling but keeping in mind that older cars did not feature power steering, you will likely have to compensate with increased steering effort. You should also take care that the width and profile of the modern tires do not interfere with the car's suspension

Seat Belts - Nash was the first American car manufacturer to offer the seat belt as an option while Ford later followed suit in 1955. Saab became the first manufacturer to feature seat belts as standard after releasing its GT 750 at the New York Motor Show in 1958. Therefore, many classic cars prior to this time period do not even have notches for installing seat belts. You cannot be sloppy if you're going to install seat belts in your classic car--be sure to take the time and effort to ensure that your seat belts are properly attached and reinforced to the frame.

Brakes - While the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen was only able to achieve a top speed of around five miles per hour, it nonetheless featured a handbrake to help bring it to a complete stop. While you're probably never going to have to worry about updating the brakes on something like this to make it road-ready, updating the braking system of other classic cars can often be expensive. Most common upgrades usually center around converting drum brakes to disc brakes.

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Headrests - Not until the 1960's did headrests really begin to be featured as options on cars. And of those that were, many of them did not provide the kind of whiplash and neck protection that you see from modern car headrests as they usually were in a position to protect no more than the upper back of anyone over six feet tall. Lack of headrests in older classic cars is definitely something to be cognizant of when altering your driving habits.

Crumple Zones - It also wasn't until the 1960's that crumple zones were introduced as a safety feature to help absorb the impact of a head-on collision. The consequences of an accident in a classic car can often be drastically different compared to one in a modern car. Unfortunately, however, there isn't much you can do about this area as it's pretty much dependent on the design of the car. Take a look at this video of a collision test between a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2009 to demonstrate how far along crumple zones and other design features have come. Both cars look like a mess on the outside, but around the 1:10 mark of the video when they cut to an angle from inside the Malibu you can really tell a difference:

 Car Safety and Car Shows

If you plan on entering your vehicle into a local or national classic car show, be sure to clearly understand the rules of the show to ensure you won't be penalized for any safety features you may wish to add. While some shows may deduct points for a car that has added safety improvements that are not original to the car, many shows will not as long as the improvements are required to adhere to traffic laws.

I asked some members of the American Automobile Club of America (AACA) to shed some light on this topic and they stated that according to AACA judging guidelines:

"Turn signals and battery shut-off switches are accepted as safety items, so long as the installation is done in a workmanlike manner in keeping with the design and era of the vehicle, using authentic wiring, and in good taste.

Safety glass will be accepted. Replacement glass without the manufacturer’s logo; i.e., PPG, LOF, etc. will be accepted.

Wheel weights will be considered a safety item; therefore there will be no deduction for wheel weights if installed in a workmanlike manner. They may be painted."

So, obviously, you must take the time to go over the guidelines very well so you do not risk losing points. And even if you make some improvements that don't cause you to lose points in a car show, you may affect the car's value--which brings us to our next point.

Car Safety and Car Value

Some enthusiasts, collectors and restoration specialists will warn against adding too many safety features as it may decrease the value of the vehicle. Usually, though, as long as the safety features are professionally installed and do not interfere with the overall appearance of the interior or exterior of the car, value will not be severely affected. Before making any safety additions, though, be sure to understand what features may affect your particular car as not all cars are affected equally.

Conclusion

Are we suggesting that you upgrade every safety feature to fit modern standards? Absolutely not. It depends on so many factors anyway: how the value of the particular car in question will be affected, whether you want to enter it into shows, local traffic laws, etc. Be sure to consult an expert and take all points into consideration before making a final decision.

Bill Lauder here, mechanic and restorer of vintage automobiles, reminding all you classic car fans to put the focus on safety. Follow me on Twitter for more on this and other classic automobile issues.